Reflections on a human experience that’s at once routine and exceptional; both very costly and very good.
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Life & Faith has covered many stories relating to birth over the years – incredible stories of courage and heartbreak, difficult decisions, life and death – but we’ve never done an episode on birth itself: what’s amazing about this process, what’s so hard about it, what makes it so meaningful for so many people.
This year Simon Smart is celebrating a once-every-four-years occasion (yes, he was born on 29 February!) and Natasha Moore is due to head off on maternity leave soon, so Justine Toh joins them for a conversation about birthdays – that is, birth ... days. And midwife Jodie McIver, author of Bringing Forth Life: God’s Purposes in Pregnancy and Birth, offers some insights on the journey to becoming a parent, including how surprisingly frequently pregnancy and birth – in story and as metaphor – feature in the Bible.
“I think the fact that God chooses birth to help us understand deep spiritual realities about his character and work in the world really gives honour to women’s bodies, and to these human experiences as well, as we kind of share in the cost of bringing forth life in our own little way.”
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EXPLORE
Jodie McIver, Bringing Forth Life: God’s Purposes in Pregnancy and Birth
A few other Life & Faith episodes related to birth, touching on disability, loss, infertility, and fostering:
Speak Up, Show Up
Intensive Care
When Life Doesn’t Go to Plan
Home Extension
Life and Faith: New Arrivals
Life and Faith: Healing a Nation
Life and Faith: Science v. religion
Life and Faith: How to Live?
2015 Richard Johnson Lecture: Q and A
2015 Richard Johnson Lecture: Prof. Peter Harrison
Life and Faith: Post God Nation
Life and Faith: National Sorry Day
Life and Faith: Heart of Darkness
Life and Fiath: Life at full throttle
Life and Faith: A Mother’s Love
Lest We Forget
Life and Faith: Their Sacrifice
Life and Faith: Holy War?
Life and Faith: Grand Designs
Miracles in an age of science
Gay and celibate
Restorative Justice
Life and Faith: Domestic violence and the Church
Life and Faith: Urban Village
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